Here’s one from my very metal teenage years.

Back in the day I used to be quite the metalhead and so it happened, that me and a couple of my friends packed up and went to Germany for a metal festival. Since the festival is still going strong at the same location, you can consider it a (very positive) review if you are into this sort of thing.

While this blog is clearly not about the (too) many concerts I attended during my teenage years, this festival had an interesting quirk worth sharing. It was called PartySan 2012 and it was held on the airport runway of the Obermehler airport, a private airport in Schlotheim. The airport is situated right opposite a military base, so the entire area was under strict control by the ever-efficient Germans. We were given the standard festival bracelets and told our tickets would be revoked without compensation, if we crossed the border to the military base or otherwise strayed anywhere we had no business going. Then we could choose whether to pitch our tents right there on the airport runway or on the surrounding grass and all tents were organised in an orderly manner. PartySan was likely the most well-organised festival I’ve ever been to, and to this day I remember it fondly every time I am stuck in a wild crowd, looking for some tent space.

There were several mobile bathrooms, with real showers and toilets (anyone who’s ever been to any kind of a music festival will know the struggle of the port-a-potties). We had to pay extra to use those, but I don’t think anyone minded, as we were overjoyed they even existed, and we got a great bracelet to go with it. There was one stage with amazing sound quality and several great food stalls with surprisingly reasonable prices (especially for Germany!). The only downside was that the nearby town of Schlotheim was about an hour’s walk away, which made for some very lengthy beer runs.

PartySan 2012

Despite the seemingly official and strict surroundings, nobody was bothered by the loud music and the drunken revelries, if anything, the strict organisation made it more fun, as you could actually find your tent in any state. We got a bit unlucky with out neighbours, who mostly stayed at their tent and played the Star Wars Cantina song on repeat for three days straight, but we learned to hate-appreciate it after a while.